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Bureaucratic system amidst attribution and retribution

After the recent Dead Sea incident, it will not be in anyone's interest to keep criticising and blaming, or ask whom to blame, for the ineffective crisis management during the flashfloods.

It is time to face things realistically, away from the culture of hiding the problem which dominates our society. Many recent incidents have clearly shown that we have a compound problem in Jordan with crisis management, the role of the bureaucratic system of municipalities, ministries and civil protection and, above all, an absence of an effective, modern channel of dialogue with people.

Many indicators revealed the weak status of public services. Without the need to blame anybody, the lack of efficient services was clear on different occasions, and there was insufficient equipment for dealing with the Dead Sea crisis. However, local and global weather forecasts provided specific and detailed reports on how the weather will be hour by hour, but all these reports were disregarded and denied. Regardless of the official way of dealing with the Dead Sea incident, it is shocking to have, in a small country like Jordan, more than three official committees to investigate the case, which shows the level of fragmentation present in the official body.

What Jordanians need today is to experience a serious white revolution in the bureaucratic system, more efficiency and more preparation. This can never happen without a balanced system of retribution and punishment.

Today, the Jordanian state has a golden chance to apply a fast-action strategy that is based on taking serious actions against those who do not perform their duties properly. Giving the impression of a live state needs a revolution from within, not a white revolution that only exists on paper and in slogans, but rather a real change that people can see and feel on all levels, and this includes the type of officials, mechanisms of work and achievements.

An alarming threat from which the state is suffering nowadays is keeping in charge many officials who master the art of creating problems and fail in the art of speech, which is an important and basic component of the whole political action. Thus, the comprehensive review of the state’s policies should put an end to the presence of such a model of officials, who mislead the system and live under the impression that things will always remain the same. This kind of official is a major part of the problem, and getting rid of them is the first step towards a constructive change.

This political surgery is highly needed and we should always ask ourselves what if we had more than one critical incident at the same time.

The failure in managing the crisis should urge Jordanian decision makers to revise their policies. A sense of responsibility is the key to opening the doors of credibility and trust, and this sense of awareness can only be built by estimating efficiencies, which in turn leads to building effective political leadership, and on the other hand, political arbitrariness results in destroying these efficiencies.

The Jordan Times

The Jordan Times is an independent English-language daily published by the Jordan Press Foundationsince October 26, 1975. The Jordan Press Foundation is a shareholding company listed on the Amman Stock Exchange.